This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from an application for DISPLAY SCREEN SPLIT METHOD OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on the of Mar. 6, 1997 and there duly assigned Ser. No. 7475/1997 and an application for DISPLAY SCREEN SPLIT METHOD OF A COMPUTER SYSTEM earlier filed in the Korean Industrial Property Office on the of Apr. 18, 1997 and there duly assigned Ser. No. 14557/1997
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a display screen split method for a computer system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a display screen split method for a computer system by means of which a user can vertically and exactly set two programs on a monitor to the same screen size in a graphic device supporting a wide monitor and a wide function.
2. Related Art
In general, personal computers have a display unit or monitor having a width-to-height ratio of 4 to 3. However, a wider screen having a width-to height ratio of 16 to 9 is frequently used, for example, for graphic or computer aided design (CAD) applications, or for other reasons. Furthermore, in general, application programs employ a conventional window having three function buttonsxe2x80x94for example, an icon display button, an entire/previous screen button, and an end button. Typically, such function buttons are displayed in an upper left portion of a screen in order to control the size of the screen.
Thus, a user can control the size of the screen by clicking a mouse at the four comers of a program window, such comers constituting a position for controlling the size of the program. Moreover, if the user wants to set a predetermined program to a left-half size of the entire screen or a right-half size of the entire screen using a particular function, such as a two-screen view of a wide television screen, a conventional screen control button is used in a monitor having a wide screen function or a graphic device.
The latter techniques are burdened by a disadvantage in that the user cannot exactly set the size of the screen to the left-half size of the entire screen or the right-half size of the entire screen since the user controls the size of the screen manually. Thus, there is a need in the prior art for the development of a method whereby the user can exactly set the size of the screen to a left-half size or right-half size of an entire screen.
It is recognized that certain word processing programs have a capability of splitting a display Is screen for simultaneously editing two documents. However, as explained in more detail below, this is to be distinguished from the capability of splitting a display screen in order to control a plurality of programs (such as Window programs) at the system level. Thus, there is a need in the prior art for the development of a method whereby the user can split the display screen so as to achieve control of more than one program at the system level.
The following patents are considered to be representative of the prior art relative to the present invention, and are burdened by the disadvantage discussed above: U.S. Pat. No. 5,470,080 to Naka et al., entitled Multi-Player Video Game Apparatus With Single Screen Mode And Split Screen Mode, U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,270 to Naka et al., entitled Split-Screen Video Game With Character Playfield Position Exchange, U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,933 to Frank et al., entitled Method And apparatus For Displaying A Screen Separator Line, U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,666 to Capitant et al., entitled Digitized Film Image Processing System With Bordered Split Screen Display, U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,435 to Miyahara, entitled Screen-Splitting System For A Video Recording And Reproducing Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,872 to Stoddard et al., entitled Methods of And Apparatus For The Generation Of Split-Screen Video Displays, U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,697 to Lowrance et al., entitled Sonar Fish Finder Apparatus Providing Split-Screen Display, U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,001 to Netter, entitled Split Screen Imaging, U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,427 to Abe et al., entitled Display Apparatus With Display Screen Splitting Function, U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,377 to lie Urabe, entitled Split Image Display Control Unit, U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,202 to DiNitto et al., entitled Split Screen Smooth Scrolling Arrangement, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,462 to Balopole et al., entitled Video Split Screen Technique.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a display screen split method for a computer system by which a user can vertically and exactly set two programs on a monitor to the same screen size in a graphic device supporting a wide monitor and a wide function so as to substantially obviate one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
To achieve the objects, and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a display screen split method for a computer system is carried out in the following manner. A command for setting a split screen is entered, and the size of the screen is set to the left half size or the right half size of the entire screen.
As mentioned earlier, the method of splitting a display screen in accordance with the present invention is to be distinguished from a method of splitting a display screen in a particular program, such as a word processing program (e.g., Microsoft Word). Programs in the latter category split a display screen for simultaneously editing two documents within a single program, such as a word processing program. In contrast, the present invention enables a user to control all open Windows programs, and not just a particular program. That is to say, the advantage of the present invention is achievement of control of a plurality of programs at the system level.
For example, in accordance with the present invention, a user can display two programs on a monitor, can use the left half of the screen for a word processor program, and can then use the right half of the screen to watch a movie. In contrast, a particular program must be modified to support a display screen split function for that program. It is considered to be impractical to modify all programs to enable them to support such a function. Thus, the present invention has an advantage in that it may be used to enable such a function in all programs without modifying those programs.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.